Franciscan University of Steubenville

Senior Portfolio Information

Each of your English professors is keenly interested in discovering what you actually learn as an English major during your studies here at Franciscan University of Steubenville. In order to satisfy our desire to know more about what you are learning, we require a Senior Portfolio as a requirement for the completion of ENG 434 (the Thesis). This Portfolio, composed of samples of your English course work, will help us to gain a better sense of what we do well, what could be improved, and how we might more efficiently direct our departmental resources. Senior Portfolios are required of all students enrolled in ENG 434 (Thesis)..

The Thesis paper will continue to be graded as before; it will, however, be considered incomplete if a complete Senior Portfolio is not handed in with the Thesis essay.

The Senior Portfolio shall consist of copies of three to six essays, each of which you will have written as part of your coursework in English at FUS; also included should be a brief cover letter explaining which of the concentration categories each of the included essays fits into (see details below). You should include a copy of the graded essay and, if you wish, a revised version (the extent of revision is up to you). THIS MEANS THAT YOU MUST NOT DISCARD THE MARKED ESSAYS RETURNED TO YOU BY YOUR PROFESSORS DURING YOUR COURSE OF STUDY AT FUS. Senior Portfolios will not be returned to students, so you should be sure to submit photocopies only of your marked essays.

In order to guard against the possible misplacing or loss of work that you think you might like to include in your portfolio, the chairman of the English department, Dr. Stephen Lewis, will maintain a file for each English major in his office, Egan 266. When you have a graded paper that you think you would like to include in your portfolio, please give a photocopy to Dr. Lewis (you can slip the paper under the office door if he is not there). Make sure that your name is clearly indicated on each page of the paper, and that the paper is properly stapled.

We hope the task of composing your Senior Portfolio will be not only fairly simple, but also rather satisfying. As you select and arrange some of your best work from your years as an English major at Franciscan, you are bound to feel proud of your achievement—-as you well should.

Senior Portfolio Contents, by Concentration

English Major, British and American Literature Concentration

Papers in the portfolio should demonstrate familiarity with each of the major literary historical periods listed as categories for the concentration in the course catalog. Some papers may countin more than one category: for instance, a paper on Milton or Shakespeare could also count in category 3; similarly, a paper on Henry James could count in categories 1 and 5.

Modern Period (e.g., Modern ShortFiction, Modern Novel, Modern Drama, Modern Poetry)

English Major, Writing Concentration

Papers in the portfolio should demonstrate familiarity with each of the major literary categories stipulated by the concentration in the course catalog. Some papers may count in more than one category—-see the example given above, under British and American Literature Concentration.

American Literature

British Literature

Modern or Contemporary Period (e.g., Modern Short Fiction, Modern Novel, Modern Drama, Modern Poetry, Contemporary Christian Fiction, Contemporary Christian Poetry)

Additional items in the portfolio should demonstrate the writer’s competence at creatively adapting style and tone to suit different audiences and purposes.

The portfolio as a whole should demonstrate the writer’s competence in using a variety of rhetorical modes (e.g., description, narration, exposition, persuasion).

English Major, Drama Concentration

Papers in the portfolio should demonstrate familiarity with each of the major literary categories identified for the concentration in the course catalog. Some papers may count in more than one category—-see the example given above, under British and American Literature Concentration.

American Literature

British Literature

Dramatic Literature

In addition, the Portfolio should contain at least ten pages of dramatic text scoring demonstrating successful analysis of dramatic action and familiarity with the ways of communicating the action through theatrical tools.

English Major, Western and World Literature Concentration

Papers in the portfolio should demonstrate familiarity with each of the major literary historical periods within the English-language literary tradition and selected world literary traditions, as stipulated for the concentration by the course catalog. Some papers may count in more than one category-—see the example given above, under British and American Literature Concentration.

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ABOUT FRANCISCAN UNIVERSITY

Franciscan University of Steubenville is no ordinary university, and a Franciscan education is no ordinary education. Rather, it's an education as rigorous and demanding as it is faithful--an education that challenges you intellectually, forms you professionally, and feeds you spiritually.